Comparison of General Health and Eating Disorders in Daughters of Formal Divorce, Emotional Divorce and Normal Counterparts

Divorce and separation from parents can cause many problems, including impaired family functioning. The purpose of the present study was to compare the general health and eating disorders in the offspring of girls of formal divorce, emotional divorce and normal counterparts.

This study was a descriptive-comparative study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all students of first and second grade high school girl students in Tehran in the academic year of 1396-1977 among whom 209 were selected through cluster sampling and were divided into three groups of children of emotional divorce families (50 persons) and formal divorce (N=53) and normal families (n=106). Data were collected using the "General Health Questionnaire", "The Eating Disorder Inventory" (EDI). Content validity and Cronbach's alpha of instruments were measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS. 22.

The mean score of the general health questionnaire in the three groups was 33.4, 30.4 and 27.6, respectively. The mean score of total eating disorder in the three groups was 71.1, 66.5 and 56, respectively, which is higher for girls with parents with emotional divorces.

The group of girls with divorced parents has less general health. Eating disorder is more common in the group of girls with parents with emotional divorces. Therefore, it is suggested that health professionals act in a timely manner after divorce to prevent the health and behavioral problems of their children.